B-side logs: On the topic of human behavior and other observations
by Silver-Eyed-Rukia
Summary: Follow Peridot on her day to day struggle on earth as she tries to learn everything about human behavior, emotions and earth's other inhabitants. This truly is an odd world. (Third chapter up: Arcade)
1. Music

**B-side logs: On the topic of human behavior and other observations  
**

 **Contains Logs 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2**

by

 _Silver-Eyed Rukia_

 **Rated:** T

 **Pairing:** None (so far), Gem friendship

 **Note:** Please ignore any mistakes. Or point them out and correct me, whatever you prefer.

* * *

"Yet unnamed log 1.0: The human-gem hybrid insisted on teaching me more about the earthlings' behavior and rituals, so I opted on starting a new log-series concerning his future teachings. My hopes are, scientifically speaking, fairly low but maybe I will indeed learn more about this rock and its inhabitants while I am stuck here."

Peridot pressed the stop button on her recorder and let out a barely audible sigh as she watched " _the dad_ " approach in his human vessel that everyone just called van. Steven had suggested spending some time with the dad and she had been convinced to join the pair for the day by a very _persuasive_ Garnet.

Greg killed the engine before excitedly hopping out of his car and ruffling through his son's hair, earning him a playful swat at his arms by the now giggling boy. Steven turned around to wave goodbye to Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl before motioning for Peridot to come over and join them.

"Yet unnamed log 1.1: My previous test to see if all of earth's creatures can fly proved that the dad, and in conclusion all humans, are not able to fly, maybe that is why they invented vehicles. Their physical forms appear to be highly ineffective. They consume much more energy than they seem to put out, which results in an," she started, eyeing Greg's midsection with a curious gaze, "increased body mass. I have yet to determine the advantages and disadvantages of said mass but it appears to be…soft." The green gem muttered a quiet "weird" before making her way over to the two humans, trying to ignore the teasing from the purple gem.

"Yo Peri, have fun with the Universes. And try to not blow anything up!"

"That would violate our truce agreements you clod!"

"Come on Peridot, we're leaving. You sit in the back", the black haired boy exclaimed while taking the green gems hand, opening the door for her and leading her inside. She had been sitting in a human vehicle before but that one had been defective and this one was still working. The doors snapped shut and the gem flinched back from the noise, cautiously shuffling to the middle of the backseat. The engine sprung to life and caused a slight tremor and it took some of her newly obtained practice to not get scared by it, thinking it might be the cluster emerging from the earth's core.

"Buckle up buddy, you know this old van is not exactly the safest thing out there", Greg joked and waited for his son to fasten his seatbelt before eyeing his second passenger in the back. "You too."

Peridot raised an eyebrow. "What's _buckle up_?"

"You have to put on your seatbelt, for safety. See?" Steven pulled on his belt and let it snap back onto his chest, grinning as he watched the offworlder fumble with the black strap dangling down from the ceiling. The fight between gem and safety measure was accompanied by a vast array of grunts and mumbled curses as she only continued entangling herself in the ever longer growing belt until it suddenly snapped back, successfully lifting her with it and strapping her against the roof.

"What is this contraption doing? I thought you said it was a safety measure! Get it off of me!"

Greg had to stifle his laughter as his son removed his own belt before climbing into the back, dodging some green, flailing limbs before stripping the strap off the now whining gem. Peridot plopped down onto the seat below and did her best at trying to look smooth, sitting down with her arms crossed over her chest. "I had the situation under control. Still…thank you."

"Not a problem, Dot", Steven grinned and plugged the seatbelt into its designated opening before returning to his seat, never noticing the faint, embarrassed blush covering the alien's cheeks. The van finally rolled into motion and it didn't take long before they were on the street headed straight for the beach.

At first the ride was a relatively quiet one, only occasionally interrupted by curious noises coming from the offworlder when she saw something new passing them by outside the van. She made mental notes to ask Steven about it later, attention returning to the front of the car as the pair argued about what CD to play during the ride. What a CD was though, she didn't really know.

"Oh, come on dad. I love your B-Side songs. Let's listen to some of them."

The ex-rock star scratched his cheek in an attempt to hide the redness creeping up in them before chuckling and slipping one of his old CD's into the player. "Okay then Stooh-ball, if it makes you happy."

The song started playing and Steven immediately began bouncing along to the rhythm, not missing a beat when the lyrics sprung to life and even his dad, spurred on by his son's enthusiasm, joined in and sang along with him. The pair barely noticed a lime coloured arm reaching between them and cautiously poking the device. Only when a triangle-shaped shock of greenish-yellow hair came into view did the teen pause his singing, looking at the gem in mild confusion and slight discomfort. Why he felt the later he didn't quite know yet.

"How is he singing twice at the same time", Peridot asked, gaze directed at the older of the two humans while pointing at the radio. "Didn't you say music was made by pulling strings? Is there a smaller " _the dad_ " inside this machine?"

"No, that's a CD. It saves singing and melodies similar to how your recorder works, only that a CD is a disk and not a tape", Greg answered and mumbled a quiet "and I am not " _the dad_ " before pushing the eject button, thus stopping the music and holding the disk up for the gem to see. She grabbed it and sat back on her seat, eyeing it from every angle before handing it back to Steven. "What is a B-side then?"

The teen shrugged and looked at his parent for help. "Back in the day people used to listen to music on much bigger disks than our CDs today. One side contained their "preferred" or "better" songs, and the other side contained songs that were more or less just extras, that's why they are called A-side and B-side. Some famous artists had popular songs on the B-Side though, so nowadays the B usually stands for bonus. So B-side songs are bonus songs." Greg gave a half-smile at the utterly amazed look on his son's face before returning his attention back on the road, voicing a short "'We're nearly there" at his two passengers.

"Wow dad, you're so knowledgeable, like a real rock star!"

"Heh, well I certainly used to be. Rose loved music, you know? She would listen to me goof off about it for hours on end."

Engulfed in their conversation about the quartz neither Greg nor Steven really noticed Peridot reaching for the radio again, her thirst for knowledge urging her to find out what all the buttons and wheel thingies were for. It was then that Steven realized why he had felt such a strong sense of discomfort before and he jerked forward, grabbing the alien's arm and pulling her close against him, causing her other arm to slip off the wheel she had been playing with. The volume jumped from just below conversation levels of loud to deafeningly loud in the fraction of a second and scared the living daylights out of Greg in the process, causing him to hit the brakes and nearly slither off the road. The van came to a full stop rather violently and even though the small teen had been holding on to his gem friend Peridot had still slipped from his grasp and slammed back first into the windshield, leaving a remarkable crack in the safety glass.

It took everyone a few seconds to realize what had happened. Greg, realizing he was the only adult around, hurriedly turned off the music and made sure everyone was okay, tapping his son's shoulder and sighing in relief when he received a thumbs-up before looking at the offworlder who was, surprisingly enough, still okay and hadn't poofed from the damage.

"The left wheel increases the volume of the device it seems", the green gem remarked before letting out a small yelp as she slid off the dashboard, landing on Steven's lap. His arms immediately wrapped themselves around her small frame again and she was just about to voice her opinion about the contact when she felt something wet dropping onto her chest.

"Uhm, what is that?"

"Why did you do that?" His voice was both loud and cracking at the same time from the emotions visible and audible in both his face and his tone. "You could have gotten seriously hurt!"

"Your so called safety measure was restricting my movements so I removed it. I also recall my previous encounter with one of earth's greatest trapping technologies, the child safety lock. I assumed that your safety measures always end up with me being trapped. I would prefer not to be locked away anymore."

Peridot looked at Steven's tear-stained face and suddenly became highly uncomfortable, awkwardly scratching her cheek and wiping at his tears with her free hand. "Why is it raining from your eyes?"

"Those are tears, Peridot", Greg softly explained as he watched the two share a moment, "humans cry when they are sad or hurt."

"But he didn't sustain any exterior damage to his physical form."

"No, but you hurt his feelings."

The gem watched as the teen wiped his tears off on his shirt, still somehow holding onto his green alien friend in the process. She cleared her throat and placed both her hands on Steven's cheeks, squishing them together in an attempt at comic relief while gathering the courage to voice her thoughts out loud.

"It seems that I have…misinterpreted your previous use of the word safety and thus came to a flawed conclusion about its actual meaning. I shall proceed with my research on the topic of safety and share with you my newfound results. I appreciate your concern, so stop leaking your emotions on me. It makes me feel small."

A slightly garbled "Peridot!" left his mouth as his cheeks were still being squished by the gem and he hugged her even tighter, causing the alien to voice her dislike about the more than average amount of physical contact. Greg saw a familiar form appear in the rearview mirror and he exited his van, waving at Garnet as she came strolling down the street. Peridot whined and wriggled out of the embrace, jumping onto the backseat and holding a foot out to keep Steven away from her. "I don't need bodily warmth, go share it with the dad!" Said man had walked up to the front of the van, gem fusion in tow, and was now showing her the extent of the damage the smaller gem had accidentally caused.

"Garnet!"

Steven excitedly removed his seatbelt and nearly flew into Garnet's arms, laughing as the tall woman lifted him up and smiled at his happiness upon seeing her. They looked like they actually belonged together, they looked like…"Family", Peridot muttered. It was a word she had caught from one of the many conversations between the Crystal Gems, but she hadn't really understood what it was. She searched the van for her recorder and let out a relieved sigh when she found it to be working still.

"Yet unnamed log 1.2: After an unfortunate accident caused by my still lacking knowledge of the earthling's customs I realized that I still need to learn about many things I haven't even considered up to this point. All these "emotions" humans possess seem to be tied to some sort of physical reaction, which seems odd. They have a visible effect on other humans and even gems, as I have experienced myself today. Note to self, research emotions. But at least I have found a name for my logs now, I think I will call them…B-side logs."

* * *

So...I binge-watched Steven Universe (I watched all 78 episodes and all extras in like 5 days) and this is the result. I was stuck in a pretty bad writer's block but guess what: **THE GREEN SPACE DORITO SAVED ME! All hail the space Dorito!** (Jk, but I seriously love Peridot. And Garnet)

If any of you gals and pals are following my other stories...I hope I can update soon. I wanna get out of this block completely...reviews and messages are welcome, I also like any ideas or prompts you can think of :) Just let me know!

 **Phrase of the Day  
**

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion and knowledge.

~Plato

 **If you liked it, please** **REVIEW**.

No flaming please.


	2. Chess

**B-side logs: On the topic of human behavior and other observations  
**

 **Contains Logs 2.0 and 2.1**

by

 _Silver-Eyed Rukia_

 **Rated:** T

 **Pairing:** None (so far), Gem friendship

 **Note:** Please ignore any mistakes. Or point them out and correct me, whatever you prefer.

* * *

„See you later Peridot", Steven excitedly yelled out the door as he and Amethyst both left the house bouncing like children on Christmas Day, followed by a less excited but just as happy Pearl. "Keep the house safe while we're out."

The green alien mumbled something quietly to herself and only gave a half-aware wave towards the entrance to show that she had heard him, more or less, eyes trained on the book that lay on the counter of the kitchen. Only when a hand ruffled through her triangular-shaped hair did she look up, only twitching slightly at the unexpected contact, to see Garnet smiling down at her.

"You're in charge now Peridot, we will be back in about an hour or two."

"Yes, fine, I get it. You have been mentioning this the past 30 minutes, just go and have fun or whatever it is you clods are planning on doing." The insult had turned from trying to be hurtful to more of an everyday word so even when Peridot said it, no one really felt insulted anymore. Which is why instead of sighing in annoyance Garnet only gave her a thumbs-up before following her friends out the door, leaving the house in silence after the door closed with a satisfying click.

The small gem was sitting on one of the bar stools located next to the kitchen counter, wordlessly enjoying the warm sun shining down on her from the window while she was working her way through a new topic in her textbook. She easily understood formulas and charts, but she still struggled heavily with actual texts and often found herself utterly confused when a formula was accompanied by a load of text.

"Newton's laws of motion are three phy…physil…curses upon this stupid language, why must it be so difficult to read", Peridot grumbled in frustration before throwing the textbook about modern physics along with the pencil on the couch, crossing her arms in annoyance at the fact that she still had trouble reading and writing. Granted, no one had really sat down with her and tried teaching her from the start but she had picked up some things from just observing Steven and the Crystal Gems. Evidently though that wasn't enough. She grabbed her recorder that was also resting atop of the counter and pressed the button, hopping off the stool and stretching her stiff limbs in the process.

"B-side log 2.0: Teaching myself the basics of what Steven refers to as "the English language" in its written form proves to be quite difficult. I have obtained some level of understanding on the matter, yet a huge variety of words still remain a mystery to me. On a side note, both the gems and Steven have left me to guard their main residence. While I appreciate the space I am positively surprised at the amount of trust they seem to have placed in me." She stopped the recording and looked down at the device in her hands, adding a mumbled "I wonder how long it will last" before making her way over to the couch.

Or she would have if it hadn't been for the knock at the door making her twitch from the sudden noise before her eyes darted towards the entrance. She had heard the noise before and she had also learned that it was some sort of announcement that someone was at the door but so far someone else had always gotten it. And now she was alone and admittedly somewhat lost as to what she was supposed to be doing.

"Steven, are you there? I brought the game."

Peridot cautiously made her way over to the entrance, reminding herself that she was supposed to guard the residence before opening the door wide enough to catch a glimpse at the person standing on the other side. A human girl, roughly the same size as her, stared back into her visor-covered eyes, seemingly unfazed at coming face to face with an alien. She had something tucked under her right arm and before she could do as much as react to the sudden appearance of a new stranger, Peridot had already started a conversation. Or more like an interrogation.

"What do you want?"

"Are you Peridot?"

"I asked first."

Connie blinked at the rather rude exchange before realizing just who was standing in front of her. Sure, Steven had assured her that Peridot had turned from evil to being a member of the Crystal Gems but the memories of her appearing on her TV screen and the news about her invasion were still fresh in her mind. And that was enough information for her to treat the green gem with care.

"Uhm, Steven asked me to come over and teach him how to play chess. He sounded really excited when I told him it had kings and queens", the dark-skinned girl answered, awkwardly scratching her cheek while Peridot was still staring at her through the small crack in the door. A green arm came slipping through the crack, pointing at the object beneath Connie's arm with enough distance to retrieve it and close the door if she had to.

"Is that a weapon?"

"What, this?", she smiled, holding the folded chess board up for her opposite to see. "It's not a weapon, it's a chess board. You need it for playing." She paused and held the board out towards the barely open door, smile never faltering when she thought about how Steven would handle a situation like this. ' _With kindness and patience_.'

A moment of silence passed before Peridot grabbed the board, now fully opening the door and allowing the girl inside. "I know you are Connie, I remember you from Steven's birthday party." Said girl took the open door and the fact that the alien was going back inside as her cue to follow her, so she hurried inside and closed the door, only now realizing that she was alone with her.

"Where is everybody?"

"They ventured to the mall of shopping to retrieve some sort of technical device called "toy". The rough estimation of their return is between one and two earth-hours."

Connie giggled at the alien's speech pattern and followed her to the couch, plopping down on the other half of the corner sofa to put some distance between them. She noticed an open book about physics lying next to the gem and she wondered if Peridot could even read? Maybe she would ask her about it later. Right now she was more interested in watching the small alien fumble around with the chessboard in an attempt to figure out how it worked.

"You have to lift the clip, then you can fold it open." Peridot followed the instruction and let out a small, awestruck "Oh" when the board opened, revealing a number of differently shaped figures. She looked at Connie before turning it at a 180 degree angle, making the brown figures face the dark-skinned girl. "They look the same as you so I assume these must be yours", she said, pulling out one of the white figures and rolling it between her fingers, "and the white ones must be the ones Steven uses."

"The colours actually only indicate who starts first", the Maheswaran offspring corrected and lined up all of the dark pieces on her side, waiting patiently for Peridot to do the same with her light ones before she turned the board around to reveal it's checkered pattern. "White goes first, that's the first basic rule of the game. Here, let me show you how to align the pieces."

The following 15 minutes were spent arranging the figures correctly on the board, with Connie's explanations occasionally being interrupted by the always curious gem asking questions about the abilities and functions of the different looking pieces, from how the pawns could only move rather limitedly to how towers could cross nearly the entire board and how to check and checkmate someone, cornering the king. To the teens amazement it took only one explanation per piece for Peridot to grasp its function, so after another 5 minutes of explaining the names the pair was ready to start their first round.

"Chess is a game that's based on making the right moves at the right times, strategic thinking is very important", Connie explained while watching Peridot make her first move with one of her pawns, free hand resting beneath her chin in a rather cliché thinking position. She followed suit with one of her own pawns, smiling when she found the company of her opposite surprisingly enjoyable.

"How did you manage to convince Steven to participate in a game of knowledge? Judging from my interactions with the hybrid so far he seems more interested in his concept of " _fun_ " rather than logical reasoning."

The teen blinked at the hybrid comment before making another move, humming quietly to herself when this time Peridot made her move much quicker than before. "Well, he thought the horses looked cute."

Silence settled around them as both focused on the game and even though this was the first time the green gem had ever played it, Connie found it increasingly difficult to keep up with her complex movements and piece placements. It was as if with every move she made Peridot learned to counter it with her own next move. They traded pieces back and forth for a while when suddenly Connie saw an opening and smirked, placing her horse on the designated square before voicing a smug "Check" out loud. "Don't be upset, I'm impressed you've made it so far for your first-", she interrupted herself when Peridot appeared completely unfazed by her move and instead moved her queen to corner her king, effectively trapping her in a lose/lose situation.

"Checkmate."

For a good five seconds all Connie could do was stare at the board in utter disbelief, not being able to wrap her head around the fact that she had just been beaten by a first-timer in under 20 minutes in a game she was, for someone her age, _really_ good at. She raised her gaze to look at Peridot before tipping her king over, face threatening to tear due to the splitting grin gracing her features.

"That was amazing! How are you so good at this?"

The newest addition to the Crystal Gems tried to hide her blush with a chuckle but ultimately failed as it was still visible, obviously caused by the praise from the dark-skinned human.

"Well, after acquiring all the necessary information all I had to do was apply logic and make use of my basic observant abilities, it was not that hard." She watched how Connie only continued staring in amazement before she cleaned the pieces off the board, mumbling the next words so quietly that the girl nearly missed it. "Thank you for explaining this " _chess_ " game to me."

"You're welcome." Connie looked at the book still lying next to the gem before carefully scooting closer to her, taking the book and opening it at the marked page. "You are interested in physics?"

Peridot closed the board and blinked when she realized how close the human had gotten but somehow it didn't bother her, or at least not as much as she thought it would. Her eyes scanned the girl's expression before she crossed her arms over her chest and nodded in confirmation.

"I have found that by indulging in this planet's natural phenomenon understanding it gets increasingly easier. I admittedly have a certain difficulty with your language which in turn makes the whole learning process much more frustrating."

Connie looked at Peridot as if she had just grown a second head. "You can't read?"

Before the alien had a chance to reply the front door flew open and Steven, who upon seeing Connie jumped off of Garnet's hair that he had been sitting on, excitedly confronted the pair of intellectuals.

"Hey Connie, what are you- Oh. My. God. I totally forgot that you wanted to come over today, I'm sorry!"

Pearl and Amethyst closed the door behind them as they entered, placing the newly bought toy on the counter before they sat down and watched the exchange between the two teens and the green gem, joined by Garnet who just leaned against the counter and also watched, toothless smile directed at them.

"That's okay Steven, Peridot made me feel welcome. She even beat me in chess even though I just taught her how to play it!"

"Yeah, she's smart like that", the boy grinned and gave a thumbs-up, which Peridot returned with her blush still burning brightly on her cheeks. "So, can you teach me too? I really like the horses!"

"I would love to but I have to go home now, you know my mum hates it when I come home late for dinner." She looked at the book in her hand before placing it on the table, giving the gem a reassuring smile and handing the chessboard to her. "Here, I want you to have it, that way you can teach Steven and we can all take turns playing the next time I come over."

"Wow, thanks."

And with that both Steven and Connie left to have a few minutes to themselves before they had to part, leaving Peridot in much quieter company.

"B-side log 2.1: Even though my attempts at broadening my knowledge about _English_ have been short-lived for the day I instead have gathered additional information about one of humanity's favourite ways of spending time, a game called _chess_. Steven's female associate Connie turned out to be a rather educated individual and I found myself…enjoying her presence. She even gave me her game as a gift which, according to Steven, means that she is my friend." Peridot interrupted her log when she noticed scribbles on her bookmark. She opened the textbook on the same page about Newton's theories as before and couldn't keep the tiniest of smiles from forming on her lips as she scanned over what was drawn on the green post-it. "Engaging in civil conversations is apparently the easiest way to bond with a human, I shall further test this theory once the Connie person returns. She evidently promised to do so after all." The green gem ended her log-entry and closed the book, pressing the cover tightly against her chest.

' _Next time I visit I'll teach you how to read this message_.' The sentence was underlined with a doodle of Connie and Peridot reading a book together, smiling.

* * *

 **A/N:** Before anyone comments on the fact if Peridot can read or not, she obviously can not write properly as shown by her mispelling analysis and other words in Logdate 7 15 2. If she can or can not read hasn't really been established at this point, I think, so it's more or less personal interpretation. She may have a Basic grasp on letters, but she probably doesn't know a lot about written language. I also think Connie and Peridot would bond rather quickly over a shared, intelectual interest so I hope their interaction is not too OOC.

* * *

Well, here is the second chapter up. I would place this happening shortly after Logdate 7 15 2 since that's really where Connie could be sure Peridot wouldn't really harm her, since she is now a CG. I have...uh, like another 8 story ideas written down and one nearly finished so I will probably update this when I feel like writing, the ideas are certainly not lacking :) Still, if someone comes up with an idea, feel free to share! I have no particular order in which I write these stories. I go with whatever I feel like writing at the Moment.

 **Phrase of the Day  
**

In chess one cannot control everything. Sometimes a game takes an unexpected turn, in which beauty begins to emerge. Both players are always instrumental in this.

~Vladimir Kramnik

 **If you liked it, please** **REVIEW**.

No flaming please.


	3. Arcade

**B-side logs: On the topic of human behavior and other observations  
**

 **Contains Logs 3.0 and 3.1**

by

 _Silver-Eyed Rukia_

 **Rated:** T

 **Pairing:** None (so far), Gem friendship

 **Note:** Please ignore any mistakes. Or point them out and correct me, whatever you prefer.

* * *

It was an unusually rainy day in Beach City. The sky was dark, filled with mountains of clouds that soaked everyone unfortunate enough to be out at this hour. Strong winds whipped the drops against the windows but even though the stormy weather seemed fierce it was at least without thunder and lightning, at least for now, much to the green gem's relief. Said alien was currently seated on the couch in the living room right next to Garnet, who was seemingly just looking at her with a stop-watch in her hands while Peridot occupied herself with the toy the Crystal Gems and Steven had given her after their latest trip to the mall of shopping.

"Aw come on, not again!"

Steven's frustrated whines and Amethyst's hearty laughter drowned out the rain for a moment, an interruption Peridot didn't necessarily appreciate, before they quieted down again, raising both curiosity and suspicion in both the fusion and the Homeworld gem. Pearl was too busy with cleaning up the mess left from lunch to be bothered by the commotion.

"What are they _doing_?"

Garnet only shrugged in response which in turn made Peridot grumble before she placed the toy back on the table, attention now back on the seemingly useless device. Garnet hit the watch and looked at the time. "24 seconds, give or take."

"Pointless compilation of coloured squares! How is solving this "puzzle" helping with anything? You just mess it up again only to try and rearrange them even quicker than before."

Her shades-covered eyes rested on the smaller gem for a moment before Garnet took the Rubik's cube in one of her hands, twisting and turning the solved brain game until the previous pattern was no longer recognizable before putting it back on the table.

"Steven said it could help you calm down and concentrate. It helps you to focus and it's a good way to keep this", she said, pointing to her head, "stimulated." As if to underline her exclamation Amethyst let out a loud fart-sounding noise after the gem-hybrid had died again against the same boss in his game, causing Pearl to finally break her silence and start nagging the pair about their obnoxiously loud behaviour. The fusion looked down at Peridot and pushed the cube over the table until it was resting right in front of the smaller gem.

"It's a strategic game, like chess."

"Oh!"

The comparison made sense, or at least it did to Peridot. The alien looked from the cube to Connie's chessboard that was sitting on the table and back again, suddenly filled with eagerness to get even better than she had been the first few dozen times she had solved the puzzle. But just as she was about to start, Garnet and her watch at the ready, Steven complained again and this time his annoyance was accompanied by the controller hitting the wooden floor, successfully draining Peridot of whatever concentration she had had up to that point. She watched as the fusion stood and went up the stairs to check on the human before replacing the cube in her hands with her trusty tape recorder.

"B-side log 3.0: After a rather enlightening explanation about the correlation of chess and the so called " _Rubik's cube_ " I have concluded that both activities, albeit time consuming, serve an ulterior purpose: the sharpening of one's mind. And while I do not require accumulating further intellect I am sadly in short supply of knowledge about human customs and therefor still need to adapt to their ways of life. Even if some of them appear to be mindless void-fillers."

The log entry ended with Peridot ascending the stairs and watching Garnet pull Amethyst along with her, down the stairs, to give Steven some space to vent. The green gem, always oblivious to the mood when first presented to her, approached the hybrid who was currently sitting on the floor with his back against the bed, arms crossed in front of his chest and eyes swimming with tears of frustration.

"Steven, why do you look so small?"

"Because! I keep losing against this stupid boss and it's making me upset. If I can't even beat this how am I supposed to stand a chance in the Funland Arcade tournament tomorrow?"

Peridot looked from the boy to the TV, an eyebrow raised in both confusion and curiosity, before she sat down on the edge of the bed while placing her recorder next to her.

"What is that tournament you speak of? Does it contain more robots?"

It took him a moment but when Steven connected the dots he couldn't contain his mirth and he let out a short laugh, much to Peridot's growing confusion, before he shook his head no.

"It's not like the competition between you and Pearl, Dot. Think about it like…a test of skill. Whoever wins in a one versus one wins the current round and gets to move on to the next one. And the finale is like a tiebreaker where the last two people will face off against each other until only one remains: the winner. And said winner will get to play any game at the arcade for free for three months!"

"So beating this " _boss_ " in your game helps you win the tournament? How? It's not even related."

Steven motioned for Peridot to sit next to him on the floor to which she complied, not without grumbling beneath her breath of course, before he loaded his last save and started showing the Homeworld gem the basic move-sets of the character in the game.

"You see, to beat the boss you have to predict his movements, you have to know what he will do before he actually does it."

"That's impossible, Steven. Such a formidable opponent capable of defeating you would never be so predictable."

"Well, true if we were fighting for real but this is a game. Each enemy has a set pattern of attack, the only thing that changes is when they do what, but what they do is always the same. Look."

The dark-haired boy dodged one attack before getting knocked down by a follow-up, the hit taking a good portion of his health. He sighed before pausing the game, eyes glued to his stubby fingers gripping the controller.

"I tried beating him over and over but no matter how hard I try I can just never defeat him."

Peridot watched the TV, eyes looking at the paused game while her mind was already going into overdrive. ' _Over and over_.' The words reminded her of something and when she finally figured out what it was she let out a small, victorious "Hah!".

"I get it now! Your repetitive attempts serve the purpose of improving upon your latest try, like your cube-device!" The green gem excitedly hurried down the stairs, grabbed the cube, climbed up the stairs again and plopped down next to Steven faster than he would have anticipated. He needed to remind himself that even if Peridot was small and seemingly harmless without her enhancers, she was still a gem. And a dangerously smart one, too.

She proudly started flipping the differently coloured sides around and not even 20 seconds later she held the now perfectly solved puzzle up for Steven to see, who in turn could only gasp in amazement before excitedly grabbing Peridot's free hand.

"O-m-g, Peridot this is it! You could help me beat him. You could help me win the tournament!"

Peridot, who had only been eager to show off her skills, blinked at the hybrid when he shoved the controller into her hands after taking the puzzle from her, face beaming with pure glee at his discovery that the green gem could probably help him with his games _and_ the tournament.

The rest of the day and a good portion of the evening were spent trying to improve Peridot's gaming skills, which were pretty much nonexistent. And while the gem wasn't necessarily interested in playing the game itself she felt incredibly validated in her abilities by Steven's continuous support and cheering whenever she managed to successfully land a combo, like he called them, and kill a boss, a feat not even Steven himself had accomplished up to this point. She was an incredibly quick learner, after all.

They were only interrupted when Pearl told the young boy to get ready for bed, which he complied with after a good amount of whining and begging, a tactic that rarely ever worked with the tall gem, sadly. While Steven was maintaining his organic body Peridot saved the game, an important detail she had learned the hard way to use when an unexpected bolt of lightning had cut off their electricity for a few seconds, forcing the console to turn off and erasing her previously achieved progress. She turned off the console and picked up her recorder before heading down the stairs, noticing that the Crystal Gems had already retreated into their rooms for the night.

"B-side log 3.1: While I assumed that " _games_ " and " _hobbies_ " only serve the purpose of entertaining the shallow-minded I now stand corrected. They may not be a well thought out strategic maneuver or a highly effective combat tactic but they do contain a certain amount of logic and reason, a sentiment I can appreciate. Steven's continuous attempts of explaining human customs may seem meaningless at first but I have learned that there is an…unexpected depth to his perception. While this is a quite useful trait to have I must remain cautious, he is still part gem under all his organic matter."

Moments after her log ended the boy in question exited the bathroom, worries and frustration from earlier all but forgotten due to Peridot's unintentional cheering up. He waved at her, motion accompanied by a short "G'night, Dot!" before disappearing beneath the sheets. The green gem still found it odd that humans let down their guard and remain motionless for an entire night cycle and even though she usually grew bored at night when there wasn't anything to do this night was different. She set up the chessboard, pieces being illuminated by her gem-light, and started playing against herself.

Morning couldn't get there fast enough.

* * *

The only remains of the torrential downpour from the day before were a couple of puddles still lying about here and there due to the hot weather vaporizing them quicker than they had accumulated in the first place. Steven laughed and hopped into one of them before continuing on his way towards the arcade, closely followed by Amethyst and Pearl with Garnet and Peridot shortly behind the pair.

"Yo P!"

The purple gem grinned almost devilishly at the taller gem before leaping into the air just above one of the bigger puddles and turning into an anvil, crashing down into the water below with such force that it drenched Pearl from head to toe. The fusion and her green tag-along had evaded the attack due to Garnet's sometimes handy foresight.

"A-me- _thyst_!"

"Whoops, gotta bail. See you back at the warp-pad Garnet!"

And with that the quartz darted off laughing with a drenched and furious Pearl in tow. The three of them had only tagged along to make sure both Peridot and Steven got to the arcade safely. They would come pick the two up later, after the tournament.

"Get _back here_ you childish, little- ah!"

Or Garnet would go alone. Probably a better idea.

The fusion gave a short thumbs-up before leaving the small gem and her hybrid friend after they reached the Funland Arcade. She wasn't too eager to relive her previous encounter with some of the games, especially not Meat Beat Mania. Not to mention that she would probably get kicked out if the owner spotted her in his establishment.

To say that Peridot was overwhelmed would have been the understatement of the year, everything was just so _crowded_. Kids running around screaming, parents chatting away the time, the numerous arcade-machines bleeping and ringing and blinking in countless noises and colours: it wasn't until Steven took her hand and gently pulled her with him that she awoke from her trance, fingers unconsciously curling tighter around Steven's. She would never openly admit it but she felt anxious and the feeling of the human's warmth was comforting her, calming her down. She made a mental note to remind him what a huge sacrifice she was making for him, maybe that way she would finally get another textbook like she wanted.

"Come on Peridot, we have to sign up for the tournament before we can play." The boy must have noticed her ever stronger growing nervousness because after they had managed to plow their way through the crowd and enter their names in the competition he pulled her off to the side, away from the masses.

"Are you alright?"

The green gem scratched her cheek awkwardly before looking at their still entwined hands.

"I must admit that the vast amount of humans in such close proximity is rather… _new_. I will have to update my log upon returning to your home, I have already observed such curious behavior exhibited by these children. I did not know that humans carry nutrition inside their scent sponges."

Steven's mouth formed a silent "oh" before it clicked, making him blush furiously before he assured her that humans _did not_ carry nutrition inside their noses. He sighed before he remembered something, pulling Peridot along with him after he heard the announcement for the tournament.

"And you know", he started, looking back at the Homeworld gem with a grin," it's _our_ home, not just mine."

And if he hadn't turned his head back so early he would have seen the blush adorning his friend's cheeks at the statement.

The area surrounding the new Teens of Rage arcade was slowly filling up with contestants and spectators while the first round was already in full swing, Peedee and his brother Ronaldo being the first to fight each other. Steven looked around, never letting go of his Homeworld friend in fear of losing her tiny frame in the crowd, and checked out the competition.

Peridot on the other hand was busy enough with trying not to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of input she got by simply standing there. Smells, sounds, visuals: a lot of these things she had seen or heard about but to experience them first-hand was certainly something else and she wasn't entirely sure if she was ready to leave the safety of Steven's home more often yet.

'" _It's_ our _home, not just mine."_ '

The statement rang loud inside her head and she couldn't quite put her finger on it but it made her feel…taller. Like warmth that spread through her core similar to how Steven's hands made his warmth spread through her touch stumps. She shook her head to clear her mind of those emotion-fueled thoughts and focused her attention back on the task at hand: winning the competition. ' _For Steven._ '

It wasn't until that moment, when her eyes landed on the arcade, that she realized their most immediate problem. She tugged at her still with the human's entwined hand and leaned closer to ensure that the boy would hear her over the commotion.

"Steven, I have failed to notice this until this very moment but the machinery, much like the activation panel back at the Kindergarten, is beyond the reach of my current state. Rough calculations confirmed my fear that I will not be able to participate if this remains an issue."

"Why do you think I entered both our names?"

Peridot wasn't sure what it was. His reassuring smile? The way he winked at her, fully confident with himself? Whatever it may have been, it made her realize that despite being cut off from everything she had known up to this point she still had someone she could count on on this strange planet. She had a _friend_.

"I'll carry you on my shoulders so you can reach the controls, like back at the Kindergarten." He let go of the gem's hand when he heard their names broadcasted over the loudspeakers before crouching down and offering the alien the spot atop his shoulders, which she reluctantly took. She felt the people's prying eyes on her, their gazes filling her with that dreadful feeling of anxiety, but Steven's presence and his quite literal support helped her pull through. They would win this, together. As a team.

* * *

 **A/N:** First of all I want to clear up any misconceptions I may have indirectly fueled with this story: I don't ship Steven with any of the gems romantically. I love his interactions with them as family and friends but not as romantic interests. I personally like the idea of him and Connie liking each other and I am perfectly okay with people shipping him with the gems but I personally do not, so this is not a Peridot x Steven story. They are just friends, so sorry if I was misleading anyone. A review made me address this, just letting you know :)

* * *

On another note: this did not turn out how I wanted it to. That doesn't mean it's bad but when I first got the idea it was different than what this eventually became. I am...not 100% happy with the outcome but it's what I made and I am still glad I wrote it. I need more Steven x Peridot friendship because I swear to the heavens these two can bond over so many things. And I need more happy Peri, I need fluff. So thanks for reading, see you all in the next chapter! (I am still open for ideas for future chapters, either voiced in a review or on my tumblr, look at my profile on ff to find the link to my blog)

 **Phrase of the Day  
**

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

 **If you liked it, please** **REVIEW**.

No flaming please.


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